Paul William Walker IV[1] (September 12, 1973 – November 30, 2013) was an American actor. He became well known in 1999 after his role in the hit film Varsity Blues. However, he is perhaps best known for starring as Brian O'Conner in The Fast and the Furious film series. His other films include Eight Below, Into the Blue, She's All That, and Takers. He also appeared on the National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White.
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Death
5 Filmography
5.1 Film
5.2 Television
5.3 Music videos
6 Awards and nominations
7 References
8 External links
Early life
Walker, the son of Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul Walker III, a sewer contractor, was born in Glendale, California and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County.[2][3][4] His ancestry included Irish, English, and German.[5] His paternal grandfather was professional boxer "Irish Billy Walker".[6] Walker was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] He graduated from Village Christian School.[7][8] After high school, he attended several community colleges, majoring in marine biology.[7]
Career
Walker began his small screen career as a toddler, when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at the age of 2[9] and began working on television shows in 1985, with roles in shows such as Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss?, The Young and the Restless, and Touched by an Angel. Also in 1985, he starred in a commercial for Showbiz Pizza.[10]
Walker's film career began in 1986, with the horror/comedy film Monster in the Closet. He and his sister Ashlie were contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!; they finished in second place. He continued with roles in several other movies without much success; it was not until 1998 that Walker made his feature film debut in the comedy Meet the Deedles, which finally gained him fame. This subsequently led to supporting roles in the movies Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000).
In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role arrived when he starred opposite actor Vin Diesel in the successful action film The Fast and the Furious. The film established Walker as a notable film star and leading man and led to his reprisal of the role in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. He continued his career with leading roles in films such as Joy Ride (2001), Into the Blue (2005), and Timeline (2003); he also had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's 2006 adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers.
Walker then starred in the crime thriller Running Scared and Walt Disney Pictures' Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical-acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its first weekend.[11] During the filming of Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer stated that "[Walker] is that guy on some level"[12] when comparing Walker with his character in the movie, Joey Gazelle. Kramer continued on to say that he "loved working with [Walker] because as a director he's completely supportive of my vision of what the film is. And even better, he's completely game for it."[12]
Walker in 2006
Walker starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008. He subsequently returned to The Fast and the Furious franchise, reprising his role in Fast & Furious, which was released on April 3, 2009.[13] Walker then appeared with T.I., Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Matt Dillon, and Hayden Christensen in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in early September 2008 and was released in August 2010.[14]
In February 2013, it was announced that he was to play Agent 47 in the Hitman reboot.[15]
The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men announced in January 2011 that Walker was going to be the new face of the brand as of July 2011.[16] He reprised his role in the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five (2011), and again in Fast & Furious 6 (2013).
Personal life
Walker lived in Santa Barbara, California, with his dogs, one of which is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.[2][17] Paul and his then-girlfriend Rebecca [18] have a daughter, Meadow[19] (born on November 4, 1998), who moved from Hawaii to California to be closer to Walker.[20] He was an avid surfer and enjoyed the beach. Walker held a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu.[21]
Paul Walker drove a Nissan Skyline in 2 Fast 2 Furious
Walker's first passion was marine biology, with his idol being Jacques Cousteau,[22] and he joined the Board of Directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006.[23] He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White, which premiered in June 2010.[24][25] He spent 11 days as part of the crew, catching and tagging 7 great white sharks off the coast of Mexico.[22] The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, along with Captain Brett McBride and Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks. This allowed Dr. Michael Domeier to study migratory patterns especially those associated with mating and birthing over a 5-year period of time.[26]
In March 2010, Walker went to Chile, specifically to Constitución, to offer his help and support to the people injured in the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 27. He also flew with his humanitarian aid team, REACH OUT Worldwide, to Haiti to lend a helping hand to the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.[27]
He was also an avid car enthusiast who competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced a M3 E92 and was on the AE Performance Team. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo Brakes, Ohlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani, and Reach Out Worldwide.[28] Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death.[29]
Walker has also owned a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec II, that was featured in 2 Fast 2 Furious, driven by his character Brian O'Conner. He had customized the car himself for the movie, and also did many stunts in the movie himself.
Death
On November 30, 2013, at approximately 3:30 PM (PST), Walker and a friend, identified as Roger Rodas by organizers for Walker's charity, Reach Out Worldwide (for victims of Typhoon Haiyan), left one of its events.[30][31] Shortly after leaving in Rodas' red Porsche Carrera GT, the driver lost control and crashed into a light pole and tree in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California and the vehicle burst into flames.[32][30][33][34] The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declared the two deceased at the scene.[32][35] Coverage was first reported by celebrity website TMZ and by major news outlets after Walker's publicist, Ame van Iden, confirmed early reports of his death.[30] Rodas was a longtime friend to Walker and helped to establish Reach Out Worldwide.[36] He was the CEO of Always Evolving, a performance shop for high end vehicles owned by Walker, located in Valencia.[37]
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Monster in the Closet 'Professor' Bennett
1987 Programmed to Kill Jason
1994 Tammy and the T-Rex Michael
1998 Meet the Deedles Phil Deedle
1998 Pleasantville Skip Martin
1999 Varsity Blues Lance Harbor
1999 She's All That Dean Sampson
1999 Brokedown Palace Jason Uncredited
2000 The Skulls Caleb Mandrake
2001 The Fast and the Furious Brian O'Conner
2001 Joy Ride Lewis Thomas
2002 Life Makes Sense If You're Famous Mikey
2003 Turbo-Charged Prelude Brian O'Conner 6 minute short film introductory film for 2 Fast 2 Furious
2003 2 Fast 2 Furious Brian O'Conner
2003 Timeline Chris Johnston
2004 Noel Mike Riley
2005 Into the Blue Jared Cole
2006 Eight Below Jerry Shepard
2006 Running Scared Joey Gazelle
2006 Flags of Our Fathers Hank Hansen
2007 Stories USA Mikey
2007 The Death and Life of Bobby Z Tim Kearney
2008 The Lazarus Project Ben Garvey
2009 Fast & Furious Brian O'Conner
2010 Takers John Rahway
2011 Fast Five Brian O'Conner
2013 Vehicle 19 Michael Woods
2013 Fast & Furious 6 Brian O'Conner
2013 Hours Nolan
2013 Pawn Shop Chronicles Raw Dog
2014 Brick Mansions Damien Post-production
2014 Fast & Furious 7 Brian O'Conner Post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985 Highway to Heaven Eric Travers 1 episode
1986 Highway to Heaven Todd Bryant 2 episodes
1986–
1987 Throb Jeremy Beatty 23 episodes
1988 I'm Telling! Contestant 1 episode.
1990 Charles in Charge Russell Davis 1 episode
1991 Who's the Boss? Michael Haynes 1 episode
1992–
1993 The Young and the Restless Brandon Collins
1994 CBS Schoolbreak Special Dill 1 episode
1994 The Boys Are Back Jesse Hansen Pilot episode
1996 Touched by an Angel Jonathan 1 episode
2013 Shark Week Himself 1 episode
Music videos
Year Artist Song
1997 The Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Wrong Thing Right Then"
2003 Ludacris "Act a Fool"
Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Film/TV Show Result
2000 Young Hollywood Award Exciting New Face – Male Won
2001 Hollywood Breakthrough Award Breakthrough Male Performance
Received at the Hollywood Film Festival Won
Young Hollywood Award New Stylemaker – Male Won
2002 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Team
Shared with Vin Diesel The Fast and the Furious Won
Breakthrough Male Performance Nominated
2003 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Chemistry
For Paul Walker and his car 2 Fast 2 Furious Won
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure Fast & Furious Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure Fast Five Nominated
References
Contents [hide]
1 Early life
2 Career
3 Personal life
4 Death
5 Filmography
5.1 Film
5.2 Television
5.3 Music videos
6 Awards and nominations
7 References
8 External links
Early life
Walker, the son of Cheryl (née Crabtree), a fashion model, and Paul Walker III, a sewer contractor, was born in Glendale, California and raised in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County.[2][3][4] His ancestry included Irish, English, and German.[5] His paternal grandfather was professional boxer "Irish Billy Walker".[6] Walker was raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2] He graduated from Village Christian School.[7][8] After high school, he attended several community colleges, majoring in marine biology.[7]
Career
Walker began his small screen career as a toddler, when he starred in a television commercial for Pampers. He began modeling at the age of 2[9] and began working on television shows in 1985, with roles in shows such as Highway to Heaven, Who's the Boss?, The Young and the Restless, and Touched by an Angel. Also in 1985, he starred in a commercial for Showbiz Pizza.[10]
Walker's film career began in 1986, with the horror/comedy film Monster in the Closet. He and his sister Ashlie were contestants on a 1988 episode of the game show I'm Telling!; they finished in second place. He continued with roles in several other movies without much success; it was not until 1998 that Walker made his feature film debut in the comedy Meet the Deedles, which finally gained him fame. This subsequently led to supporting roles in the movies Pleasantville (1998), Varsity Blues (1999), She's All That (1999), and The Skulls (2000).
In 2001, Walker's breakthrough role arrived when he starred opposite actor Vin Diesel in the successful action film The Fast and the Furious. The film established Walker as a notable film star and leading man and led to his reprisal of the role in the 2003 sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. He continued his career with leading roles in films such as Joy Ride (2001), Into the Blue (2005), and Timeline (2003); he also had a supporting role in Clint Eastwood's 2006 adaptation of Flags of Our Fathers.
Walker then starred in the crime thriller Running Scared and Walt Disney Pictures' Eight Below, both released in 2006. Eight Below garnered critical-acclaim and opened in first place at the box office, grossing over US$20 million during its first weekend.[11] During the filming of Running Scared, director Wayne Kramer stated that "[Walker] is that guy on some level"[12] when comparing Walker with his character in the movie, Joey Gazelle. Kramer continued on to say that he "loved working with [Walker] because as a director he's completely supportive of my vision of what the film is. And even better, he's completely game for it."[12]
Walker in 2006
Walker starred in the independent film The Lazarus Project, which was released on DVD on October 21, 2008. He subsequently returned to The Fast and the Furious franchise, reprising his role in Fast & Furious, which was released on April 3, 2009.[13] Walker then appeared with T.I., Idris Elba, Chris Brown, Matt Dillon, and Hayden Christensen in the crime drama Takers, which began filming in early September 2008 and was released in August 2010.[14]
In February 2013, it was announced that he was to play Agent 47 in the Hitman reboot.[15]
The Coty Prestige fragrance brand Davidoff Cool Water for Men announced in January 2011 that Walker was going to be the new face of the brand as of July 2011.[16] He reprised his role in the fifth installment of The Fast and the Furious series, Fast Five (2011), and again in Fast & Furious 6 (2013).
Personal life
Walker lived in Santa Barbara, California, with his dogs, one of which is a Chesapeake Bay Retriever.[2][17] Paul and his then-girlfriend Rebecca [18] have a daughter, Meadow[19] (born on November 4, 1998), who moved from Hawaii to California to be closer to Walker.[20] He was an avid surfer and enjoyed the beach. Walker held a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo "Franjinha" Miller at Paragon Jiu-Jitsu.[21]
Paul Walker drove a Nissan Skyline in 2 Fast 2 Furious
Walker's first passion was marine biology, with his idol being Jacques Cousteau,[22] and he joined the Board of Directors of The Billfish Foundation in 2006.[23] He fulfilled a lifelong dream by starring in a National Geographic Channel series Expedition Great White, which premiered in June 2010.[24][25] He spent 11 days as part of the crew, catching and tagging 7 great white sharks off the coast of Mexico.[22] The expedition, led by Chris Fischer, founder and CEO of Fischer Productions, along with Captain Brett McBride and Dr. Michael Domeier of the Marine Conservation Science Institute took measurements, gathered DNA samples, and fastened real-time satellite tags to the great white sharks. This allowed Dr. Michael Domeier to study migratory patterns especially those associated with mating and birthing over a 5-year period of time.[26]
In March 2010, Walker went to Chile, specifically to Constitución, to offer his help and support to the people injured in the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that struck on February 27. He also flew with his humanitarian aid team, REACH OUT Worldwide, to Haiti to lend a helping hand to the 2010 Haiti earthquake victims.[27]
He was also an avid car enthusiast who competed in the Redline Time Attack racing series in which he raced a M3 E92 and was on the AE Performance Team. His car was sponsored by Etnies, Brembo Brakes, Ohlins, Volk, OS Giken, Hankook, Gintani, and Reach Out Worldwide.[28] Walker had been preparing for an auto show prior to his death.[29]
Walker has also owned a Nissan Skyline R34 GT-R V-Spec II, that was featured in 2 Fast 2 Furious, driven by his character Brian O'Conner. He had customized the car himself for the movie, and also did many stunts in the movie himself.
Death
On November 30, 2013, at approximately 3:30 PM (PST), Walker and a friend, identified as Roger Rodas by organizers for Walker's charity, Reach Out Worldwide (for victims of Typhoon Haiyan), left one of its events.[30][31] Shortly after leaving in Rodas' red Porsche Carrera GT, the driver lost control and crashed into a light pole and tree in Valencia, Santa Clarita, California and the vehicle burst into flames.[32][30][33][34] The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department declared the two deceased at the scene.[32][35] Coverage was first reported by celebrity website TMZ and by major news outlets after Walker's publicist, Ame van Iden, confirmed early reports of his death.[30] Rodas was a longtime friend to Walker and helped to establish Reach Out Worldwide.[36] He was the CEO of Always Evolving, a performance shop for high end vehicles owned by Walker, located in Valencia.[37]
Filmography
Film
Year Title Role Notes
1986 Monster in the Closet 'Professor' Bennett
1987 Programmed to Kill Jason
1994 Tammy and the T-Rex Michael
1998 Meet the Deedles Phil Deedle
1998 Pleasantville Skip Martin
1999 Varsity Blues Lance Harbor
1999 She's All That Dean Sampson
1999 Brokedown Palace Jason Uncredited
2000 The Skulls Caleb Mandrake
2001 The Fast and the Furious Brian O'Conner
2001 Joy Ride Lewis Thomas
2002 Life Makes Sense If You're Famous Mikey
2003 Turbo-Charged Prelude Brian O'Conner 6 minute short film introductory film for 2 Fast 2 Furious
2003 2 Fast 2 Furious Brian O'Conner
2003 Timeline Chris Johnston
2004 Noel Mike Riley
2005 Into the Blue Jared Cole
2006 Eight Below Jerry Shepard
2006 Running Scared Joey Gazelle
2006 Flags of Our Fathers Hank Hansen
2007 Stories USA Mikey
2007 The Death and Life of Bobby Z Tim Kearney
2008 The Lazarus Project Ben Garvey
2009 Fast & Furious Brian O'Conner
2010 Takers John Rahway
2011 Fast Five Brian O'Conner
2013 Vehicle 19 Michael Woods
2013 Fast & Furious 6 Brian O'Conner
2013 Hours Nolan
2013 Pawn Shop Chronicles Raw Dog
2014 Brick Mansions Damien Post-production
2014 Fast & Furious 7 Brian O'Conner Post-production
Television
Year Title Role Notes
1985 Highway to Heaven Eric Travers 1 episode
1986 Highway to Heaven Todd Bryant 2 episodes
1986–
1987 Throb Jeremy Beatty 23 episodes
1988 I'm Telling! Contestant 1 episode.
1990 Charles in Charge Russell Davis 1 episode
1991 Who's the Boss? Michael Haynes 1 episode
1992–
1993 The Young and the Restless Brandon Collins
1994 CBS Schoolbreak Special Dill 1 episode
1994 The Boys Are Back Jesse Hansen Pilot episode
1996 Touched by an Angel Jonathan 1 episode
2013 Shark Week Himself 1 episode
Music videos
Year Artist Song
1997 The Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Wrong Thing Right Then"
2003 Ludacris "Act a Fool"
Awards and nominations
Year Award Category Film/TV Show Result
2000 Young Hollywood Award Exciting New Face – Male Won
2001 Hollywood Breakthrough Award Breakthrough Male Performance
Received at the Hollywood Film Festival Won
Young Hollywood Award New Stylemaker – Male Won
2002 MTV Movie Award Best On-Screen Team
Shared with Vin Diesel The Fast and the Furious Won
Breakthrough Male Performance Nominated
2003 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Chemistry
For Paul Walker and his car 2 Fast 2 Furious Won
2009 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure Fast & Furious Nominated
2011 Teen Choice Award Choice Movie Actor: Action Adventure Fast Five Nominated
References
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